Nigeria Eases Entry Visa for Foreigners
With
an eye on making it easier for foreigners to do business in the
country, Nigeria has eased its visa processes for persons who wish to
visit Nigeria for business and tourism by removing some of the
bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Nigerians
are also beneficiaries of the review. Henceforth, passport re-issuance
has been decentralised and Nigerians no longer need to travel to Abuja
to get this done.
In
a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, the Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the measures were part of the action
plan for the ease of doing business as well as efforts to boost tourism
within the overall context of the administration’s economic
diversification agenda.
“The
Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has reviewed the requirements for
Nigerian visas to make them more customer friendly, and details of this
review are available on the NIS official website:www.immigration.gov.ng
“Types
of visas currently reviewed include Visa on Arrival (VoA) processes,
Business Visas, Tourist Visas and Transit Visas,” the minister said.
Mohammed
explained that Business Visas are available for foreign travellers who
wish to travel to Nigeria for meetings, conferences, seminars, contract
negotiation, marketing, sales, purchase and distribution of Nigerian
goods, trade fairs, job interviews, training of Nigerians,
emergency/relief work, crew members, staff of NGOs, staff of INGOs,
researchers and music concerts.
He
said tourist visas are also available to foreign travellers who wish to
visit Nigeria as tourists or to visit family and friends while the VoA
is a class of short visit visa issued at the port of entry and is
available to frequently-travelled high net-worth investors and intending
visitors who may not be able to obtain visas at Nigerian
missions/embassies in their countries of residence due to the absence of
a Nigerian mission in those countries or the exigencies of urgent
business travel.
The minister said other actions that have been taken by the NIS for the ease of doing business and facilitation of travel for
Nigerians
and foreigners alike include the harmonisation of multiplicity of
airport arrival and departure form/cards into a single form for all
agencies of government to save foreign visitors from the current
frustrating practice of filling three different forms or more and the
decentralisation of immigration services to the state commands.
“Re-issuance
of passports for change of names due to marital reasons or lost cases
have been decentralised to all state commands and foreign missions to
save passport holders from additional costs and the inconvenience of
travelling to the service headquarters in Abuja, while an additional 28
offices have been opened for the issuance of residence permits in
Nigeria, bringing the issuance of Combined Expatriate Residence Permit
And Aliens Cards (CERPAC) closer to the doorstep of employers of
expatriates at all 36 states and FCT,” he said.
Mohammed
explained that the measures introduced by the NIS fit perfectly into
the 60-day national action plan for ease of doing business in Nigeria
that was approved recently by the Presidential Enabling Business
Environment Council (PEBEC), as well as the administration’s efforts to
boost international tourism.
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